


Hell Is Around The Corner

by honeymink



Category: Alias
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-06
Updated: 2011-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-26 23:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/289191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeymink/pseuds/honeymink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five lies Lauren Reed never told to Nadia Santos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hell Is Around The Corner

She said, “I give you directions.”

***

 **#1: Just follow that road.**

 

In Buenos Aires/Argentine, Lauren, aged 13 3/4 and on an involuntarily leave of absence from her expensive Swiss boarding school, mourned her fate.

They had called it ‘Black February’, the worst outbreak of arson the country had ever seen. Ten schools, twelve police stations and a hospital. Burnt to the ground. Harris Callaghan, government secret agency shrink extraordinaire, suspected a tiny blonde girl. But she seemed innocent - so innocent that the head of investigations insinuated he had quite a few bats in the belfry for holding such an unfounded suspicion.

Nevertheless, Lauren knew that her parents hadn’t been deceived so easily. Otherwise her father wouldn’t have insisted that she accompany her mother on a trip to this filthy South American orphanage. She hadn’t really listened but she was sure his speech included lines like: … see how young girls your age have to live, who aren’t so fortunate.

Now, 48 hours later, they had arrived at “El Orfelinato de San Marco” but to Lauren’s surprise her lesson in moral education hadn't seemed to have come.

“You wait here,” her mother instructed her. “I have to talk business with Senora Vargas.”

“I assume you are not going to sell me to the orphanage,” the girl taunted.

“Don’t be silly, Lauren! “ Olivia Reed rolled her eyes. “Your low threshold for frustration, your talent for manipulation and incapacity to experience guilt might be quite annoying character traits at your age. But I know they will be serviceable in the future. Therefore I won’t restrain you. Especially since I figure you won't learn anything from being punished.”

Sitting down on a bench in the hallway, Lauren pondered her mother’s words. She was curious what plans her mother was alluding to. But she knew this wasn’t the time to ask.

There was a girl sitting there already. With her dark eyes and raven hair she could have been pretty. But she wore a threadbare pinafore and her face and fingernails were dirty. However, there was a pack of cigarettes in the pocket of her skirt.

“I like your dress,” Lauren said, hoping the girl was in the mood to share.

 

***

 **#2: Make a U-Turn.**

 

In Argun/Chechnya, Nadia hid patiently in the shadow of a chestnut tree.

Before she had turned eighteen she had already committed 130 crimes. With a loaded water pistol. _Bang!_ They had been at some fast food joint, and Caesare had picked it up from an abandoned table of a child’s birthday party while she scavenged the place for leftovers.

What he gave the blonde now, though, wasn’t a toy. The SIG Sauer’s black barrel glistened in the sunlight. _Bang! Bang!_ She recognised the P6. A gun made for small hands and the German police.

It was her first job for the Secretaría de Inteligencia outside of Argentina. For some reason she had picked up on Russian a lot easier than her fellow agents in training, which was what got her this assignment. Problem was, she hadn’t expected to be the one they sent after Robert’s alleged killer.

As they spilt, she followed Caesare through the bazaar. It was late in the afternoon and the place was crowded. Of course, given the circumstances, her approach was also half-hearted. When she finally lost him in an alley, she felt both guilty and relieved; ready to fall as the SIG Sauer’s handle hit her temple.

Later, as she finally regained consciousness, Nadia found herself tied to a bed in a place that looked like a ward. A hospital? Or a prison? The blonde from before towered over her.

“Maybe it’s time for a change. Again. Work for more promising employers.”

Her suggestion was met with silence. Nadia simply frowned a little. There was a throbbing pain in her head and she couldn’t think of a clever reply that was ambiguous and opportunistic enough.

Apparently patience wasn’t the woman’s forte.

“Then maybe not. You just stay here, love,” she smiled and wiped a strand of sweat-soaked hair off Nadia’s forehead. “I’m sure your agency will send someone to free you.”

 

***

 **#3: Straight forward.**

 

In Kyoto/Japan, Lauren turned up the infusion and found it extremely difficult not to wish for the other sister to lie there. (Simply because it promised so much more amusement.)

Sark held Sloane at gunpoint, unsurprisingly, not without the usual empty threats and the usual teeth grinding. But then she found big eyes looking up at her.

Sordid begging displayed to arouse pity. Lauren had a hard time not looking right back into those eyes and acknowledging their possessor of being someone rather than something.

Of course, it wasn’t a question of guilt. She had killed many, had made many suffer. Always a means to an end. Mostly entertaining. Often a sport. Sometimes tedious. Never troublesome.

Also, what lay there on the canvas chair might have human form, yet it was nothing but another Rambaldi artefact. And likewise she now looked at Nadia. Admiring the dark beauty the Maker blessed her with, despite her limited purpose.

Slowly, Lauren twisted the scroller between her thumb and index finger until the right amount of elixir ran down the tube. Bright. Green. Vile.

“Please!” Nadia implored.

It was so tempting to look down and touch her. But Lauren refused to let her fingers run over the vessel’s cold porcelain surface. Wouldn’t caress its beseeching opening. Wouldn’t lean down and whisper.

Those big eyes were about to avert their gaze. Hazily they stared past her at the bag full of bilious fluid, then past that at the door.

Lauren felt the turmoil before it started. Sydney fucking Bristow to the rescue. Nothing ever went down as planned.

Defeated, she grabbed Nadia’s chin. Demanded her attention back with force.

“It’s heroin, peppermint-flavoured heroin,” Lauren spat out. “And soon I’m going to lick it off your tits.”

 

***

 **#4: There’s a shortcut.**

 

In Papeete/French Polynesia, they met again. The rain had arrived in a storm and raged for days. And Nadia, soaked to the skin, shivered.

Back in Monte Carlo she thought she had seen her. Something that just had been confirmed by the goon she had killed on Tambor’s yacht. A certain blonde wasn’t as dead as she wanted to make the CIA believe.

When Nadia told Sydney about it, her sister laughed it off. But that laughter sounded nervous and phony, and made her stop asking questions. Obviously everyone kept dirty secrets.

However, thanks to a little help from the late Leo Orissa’s PDA, and with a canister of Black Thorine as bait, Lauren Reed was easy to locate. So as it turned out, she didn’t need Sydney’s help after all.

 _Sneak up. Knock down. Easy, see._

“So I suppose it's a little late for an apology?” Lauren moaned as Nadia tied her up in tight bondage.

“You suppose correctly.”

Lauren’s lips quivered. “We’re all just pawns in a game, Nadia,” she urged under her breath. “I didn’t mean to actually kill you back in Japan. Don’t leave me here to die.” So much pain and words, trembling, as the ropes cut deeper into her flesh.

“Oh please, I’m sure someone is coming for you in the next couple of days,” Nadia rolled her eyes, then finished her work with diligence. “Of course, you won't be able to lie on your back for a while but then you can lie from any position, can't you?”

 

***

 **#5: We’re almost there.**

In Los Angeles/USA, Nadia fell to her death. Through a glass, darkly. Second chances, it seemed, hardly ever worked out and were generally short-lived. Thus she shouldn’t have been surprised to find her at the bottom of the well.

“These stairs must lead somewhere.”

Lauren’s suggestion came with a mocking encouragement Nadia couldn’t quite fathom. Who knew there were games to play even after your untimely demise?

“Are you sure?” she asked wearily.

“Well love, if they don't,” Lauren continued softly after a significant pause, “watch out for the last one!”

And after all, hell appeared right around the corner.

***

“Honestly?” she said, “I think it’s an impasse.”

 

 **~Fin~**


End file.
